Kaylia is doing her pacing thing. She's had breakfast and now she's just pacing round the house with her dingle dangle. She will keep this up for a long time ..... I spose it's good exercise. As she walks I wonder about the way that families handle autism ..... we see so many families in distress .... where the autism is a source of conflict and disruption in the family ..... yet I don't feel that life is like that for us and I ponder why.
Firstly .... Kaylia is an only child .... no siblings to dilute the attention she gets.
Second .... choose the battles! We can't have a pleasant home if we have conflict so we avoid battles if we can't win them! ...... and there are very few winners in the autism battle. Since D Day (diagnosis) our life has largely revolved around Kaylia .... maybe this can change some day. Till then we arrange life so that we have a calm and happy child.
Of course she wouldn't be calm and happy without all the work we've put into "fine tuning" her medication..... to have beaten the meltdowns and anxiety attacks has been a major achievement.
..... and the constant awareness of what is happening for her .... watching for signs of developing anxiety .... taking steps to avoid it.
Another huge factor has been our wonderful au pairs..... having the extra carer for her makes a huge difference to our life ..... it gives us breathing space when things get too hard.
This all sounds a bit pompous ..... but it's worth it to have a happy giggling girl!
Noon: It's pouring with rain and it's cold .... and Kaylia is in the outside bath!!!!
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